Feinstein: 'I'm Not Going to Lay Down and Play Dead'

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) boasted Tuesday that despite the shelving of her federal assault weapons ban bill by Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), she will not go quietly into the night. Feinstein said, “This is very important to me and I’m not going to lay (sic) down and play dead. I think the American people have said in every single public poll that they support this kind of legislation.”

Apparently Feinstein, who chastised Senator Ted Cruz recently that she was not a sixth grader, never assimilated certain required goals for 6th graders in California, such as getting her facts straight, or the proper usage of “lie” and “lay.” Contrary to Feinstein’s statement, every single public poll has not supported banning assault weapons. After the Sandy Hook massacre in December, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed 52 percent of those polled were against a ban, while only 44 percent supported it. At the end of January 2013, a Reason-Rupe poll showed the exact same results. And the Reason-Rupe poll also showed that the youth vote was against an assault-weapons ban; 70 percent of 18-24 year-olds and 58 percent of 25-34 year-olds said “assault weapons should be allowed.”

Reid wanted to put Feinstein’s bill restoring her original assault-weapons ban idea from 1994 on the back burner because there is no chance of it passing the Senate, and Reid wants to get other less stringent measures through the Senate without a problem. He said, “Right now, her amendment, using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. That’s not 60. I have to get something on the floor so we can have votes on that issue and the other issues we talked about.”

Feinstein put on a brave face, saying Reid would eventually back her play: “What Sen. Reid told me was that I would have the opportunity for a vote. I take him at his word. It came out on a 10 to eight vote in the Judiciary Committee, and not to give me a vote on this would be a major betrayal of trust.” She rationalized Reid’s decision by noting that her 1994 legislation went the same route as her current bill, saying, “If it’s an amendment, it’s not a symbolic vote. I did the bill in 1994 on the floor as an amendment. It was enacted there, it went on the House, and it was enacted there.”